REALITY CHECK EXTRAS AND OFFCUTS

IMPORTS You have come halfway around the world, there’s no money in it, and some of the rinks are colder and dingier than the worst you played on in juniors. You’ve just copped a puck to the face, a stick to the groin, an elbow to the neck, and you’re feeling them all. You’ve had three breakaways this period where the goalie was a wall and you can sense the chatter: “He’s not so good ... that import for ... (insert AIHL team’s name here) is better - he’s scoring two points per game.” The coach thinks you’re coasting, and you’re starting to wonder if he is right. Your team is not the juggernaut it was advertised to be and there are local kids not getting ice time who resent you. The team suits up a skeleton crew for road trips because guys can’t get off work or have to be with family or the club just can’t afford it, so you’re pulling triple shifts and getting hammered. You can’t complain about anything because everyone is a volunteer doing their best and without them there is no hockey at all here. Hardly anyone knows hockey exists in this big, forbidding country. They’re all obsessed with rugby or Aussie Rules, whatever that is. You’ve only glanced at the great beaches you know lurk at the edge of some of these big, busy cities. It’s so expensive. ‘Why did I come here?’ you ask yourself. You are sore and homesick and lonely. -------------------- This is the best thing you’ve ever done in your career, in your life. You didn’t even know there was hockey in Australia a few months ago, and here you are, travelling the country - in planes, not buses, like back home - and bonding with this great bunch of guys who put in like troopers despite being completely unpaid. Hell, some of them even pay to play. Once you showed you were down-to-earth and prepared to work hard, they accepted you like a brother. You’re having a ball on and off the ice with a bunch of mates you will keep for the rest of your life. The hockey is competitive and the support from the fans is passionate, you really want to bring home this championship; but it’s not life and death, everything is in perspective. The road trips are a hoot, with the guys super-relaxed in between games but super-focused when the time comes to play. You can have a beer and a laugh, and see Australia. You’ve stayed over in some towns a couple of times, and Thailand and New Zealand are a hop away. Some of the rinks are like a throwback to your childhood, dingy and rough, but that’s part of the romance of the whole thing. Would the stories you will tell at home be as good if all these teams played out of sterile barns? The atmosphere in Canberra was awesome. You’re having the time of your life, that bit of coaching you do is helping you meet lots of really friendly Aussies, and that footy game they took you to was nuts. There’s no money, but you don’t get treated like a piece of meat like in minor-pro. You can really settle into your team and make a contribution, and help hockey grow in this growing league. There’s a real sense of the sport going places here right now, and you’re doing your bit. You’re having so much fun you might see if there’s a way you can come back next year ... --------------- The preceding two scenarios represent the extremes of the import experience in the AIHL. Every club now assesses character as much as talent when choosing their imports, a difficult job even in the days of skype and You Tube. Playing as an import in the AIHL is, to a large extent, what the individual makes of it. Whether the person on the other end of the line is up to the challenge can’t really be known until they are living down under. There is pressure to perform in the AIHL, but nothing so troubling for players used to the brutal uncertainty of pro hockey, where even a well-performed player can be traded or cut at any time. However, these days, clubs want more than a star player. They want a role model, someone happy to teach as well as play, as good off the ice as on. They need someone who wants to embrace the Australian hockey experience, warts and all, as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The imports smart or humble enough to grasp Troy Robertson’s fundamental non-negotiable - that an import must earn respect, regardless of his reputation - get loyal support. Those who are aloof or seeking deference will have a less fulfilling six months. There are horror stories about wild imports who did not cope with their comparatively humble stature in Australia. With the league becoming more demanding of its participants, dissolute party animals now need not apply. An ideal import is talented yet humble; unselfish but self-reliant; mature but fun; dedicated and gregarious. Little wonder that the players who enjoy their Australian hockey experience have a big impact. They’re pretty special individuals. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THE AIHL’S UNOFFICIAL SOCIAL MEDIA WATCHDOGSMonday 16 June 2014 The AIHL has a few insiders who perform a useful educational service on its behalf, when a particularly unfeasible proposal gets floated on the burgeoning AIHL Fans Facebook site. The replies of James Morgan, ATC Productions head honcho, and ex-AIHL Commissioner and Newcastle stalwart Peter Lambert, explain to fans used to professional that sports some of their “lovely sentiments” are currently pie-in-the-sky for hockey in Australia.

James Morgan: “You want the AIHL to advertise? To who? And with what money? And for what purpose? The AIHL does not get a cut of gate sales. And even if you are advertising, what are you trying to achieve? The Melbourne rink is full most games (or as close to it that you wouldn’t gain much from mainstream advertising). Newcastle is the same. Perth the same. Liverpool hasn’t much capacity anyway. Canberra is full. “You want to run a game at Hisense Arena? Wonderful. You need a rink. That costs a lot of money. A jump from 1500 tickets to 8000 tickets is quite a large one, so you’ll need to spend a lot of money on marketing. What’s your hook going to be? Then what do you need to pay to get lighting, sound and video to happen in a venue like that? How much is a ticket agency going to take of your gate? How much will the venue take? What is insurance going to be worth? Even if you pulled a crowd of 8000, would you then have players asking questions like ‘why am I not getting any money?’” Peter Lambert: “It’s typical of these threads that because these things aren’t happening, the AIHL board, the teams, and the other ‘doers” are incompetent, or lazy, or unimaginative. This isn’t the case. The ‘doers’ are realistic dreamers, who have already weighed up many or all of the ‘new’ ideas I see here and put them on the highest shelf and focused on achievable and fruitful goals. When I started with the AIHL, they were bringing in around 15-20k a year and expenses were nearly the same. Barely sustainable. Even now, I’d be surprised if they manage to profit more than 50k a year. That sort of money won’t build you a rink or even run a short TV advertising campaign in capital cities. The market is complex and the resources the AIHL has must be used very carefully. Every time they spend a dollar, they have to make a dollar back at least.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THE FLEDGLING AIHL MEDIA SCENE DELIVERSWednesday 21 May 2014 After the sobering Sydney trip, it is encouraging to get back to cyberspace and see an element of the league that is growing by the day, in quantity and quality - its media coverage. Today the AIHL site profiles Ice Dogs scoring ace Simon Barg, and the Hockeywise site - run by hockey insiders - profiles Perth Thunder local Jonathon Bremner. Simon tells Simon Kirkman of his classic Ontario hockey childhood. He was “born on skates” and the first words he spoke were “hockey net”. His wife took a teaching job in Sydney two years ago and he checked out the hockey scene as soon as they landed. “To be honest I never thought I would be living in Australia and playing hockey here ... I was quite surprised how talented and developed many Australians are. It’s been a great experience.” Despite breaking Casey Mignone’s 2012 Ice Dogs scoring record in his first season last year, Simon, 31, is focused on team success. “I have no personal goals whatsoever. This is my last year of competitive hockey, and my only agenda is to win the championship with a great group of guys. Moving forward as a team with our new coach, we are definitely starting to feel like we are getting back some structure and clarity in our game plan. I think the last few weeks of uncertainty have made the players bond as a group and now with a great coach in Andrew, we will be moving in the right direction to become a league-leading team again.” Simon is bullish about the sport’s prospects in Australia. “It’s great to see that the sport is becoming more popular. I think it will only grow from here. Every Aussie I speak to tells me how much they love the game once they get familiar with it.”

Perth Thunder’s Jonathon Bremner tells Hockeywise’s Stephen White that he is one of many Australians who turned to the ice after starting with inline hockey. He’s only been on the ice for four years and admits it is a “big adjustment”. Learning the game is not the only challenge he faces. After losing in Canberra recently, Thunder endured a twelve-hour flight delay on a Monday morning. There’s a reason he puts up with such difficulties. “For me, I love playing for the city I grew up in with some of my closest friends. We have a tight locker room in Perth, guys all get along and we have a talented core of locals. We’re improving, and I think we’re on track for a championship soon. We’ve obviously had a steep learning curve and managed some success early on, but we don’t see ourselves as the new team anymore. We’re in our third year now, and missing the finals would be considered a step backwards. “ Bremner also believes the AIHL is going places. “As far as I can see the league is getting bigger and better each year. The Fox (Sports) deal is awesome. Fans are into it, a lot of rinks are packed and loud – people are buying tickets and that’s what teams need.” It’s always fascinating to learn how AIHL players make their living. Bremner, 24, is applying for medical school next year. “I’m a medical technician at a couple of private hospitals in Perth, I run respiratory tests on patients for physicians and also work on the wards a couple of times a week.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NOTES FROM THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS SERIES, MELBOURNE In sport and show business, sometimes trial and error or a chance observation can be more valuable than the most expensive or time consuming research. Kerry Goulet says the exhibition series is 50 per cent better this year than last, after its convenors spared no expense safeguarding rinks from the ice troubles which dogged the Melbourne leg in 2013. But it turns out that the precious surface needs more scouring, scraping and gouging by skates not less, in order to cure best. The indispensable offhand advice from his Concussion co-author Keith Primeau saw local hockey nuts, including Nick Place, brought in at short notice to skate on the temporary rink at Rod Laver Arena. Suddenly, the previously out of bounds prospect of a local game on the rink might be necessary, even expedient, not impractical. ------- Even amongst these professional players, there are levels and hierarchies. Taylor Bunz is playing as much to attract attention which could see him bumped up the minor pro food chain. He nearly died the last time he played in America, copping a puck to the neck. Others are NHL veterans getting bumped from team to team; ECHL stalwarts like Michael Forney who have decided to let hockey be their ticket to the world; and even up-and-coming Anaheim Ducks 22-year-old Emerson Etem, fresh off an appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Bunz, a stand-out performer so far according to co-organiser Kerry, has been blown away by the enthusiasm and numbers of Australian fans attending the games. Looking around Rod Laver Arena, he says it has been “surreal” playing in front of more fans than most of these hardcore pros play before in America. “To come down here and see all the support that we have (and) spread the love of the game, it’s pretty crazy. And that’s the thing I love about this game - it takes you places that most people don’t get the chance to go and see. If I didn’t come here, I would never have known there was hockey here.” One who did know is Team USA forward Forney, who averaged three points per game for Perth Thunder in 2013. He had a peak experience playing at a packed-out Perth Arena two weeks ago. “It was great. The Perth fans were out in full force, the game was great, I got to see a lot of the guys I played with, the rink was sold out. I couldn’t ask for anything else.”